While ruling the WWE, "Stone Cold" always had a presence in the ring that couldn't be matched. The champ was an anti-hero in the most classic sense, chugging beer and dispensing the "Stone Cold Stunner" with a reckless abandon that made him a legend in the sport. That style carries over to his turn as Paine in The Expendables. As one of the film's villains, Austin delivers a neck-snapping performance as he goes up against Sylvester Stallone's Barney Ross in some bludgeoningly brilliant sequences.

Was preparing to act at all similar to preparing for a match?I'm still learning about the acting thing, man. From the day I started wrestling until the day I finished, the guy changed a little bit and then I finally turned into Stone Cold. But there was never anything where I'd run up down the hallways screaming and beating my chest. Back in the day, you'd do a few push-ups to get a little blood flowing. Towards the end of my career, I didn't rely on that. I was relying on attitude, my wrestling chops—which I had—and not being a great scientific wrestler but being a f____g P.H.D. in the ring as far knowing what I needed to do. It's about having an ear and listening to the crowd. I always listened to the crowd because that's how you make your decisions. That was a job that after several years of working my ass off, I turned into a great mechanic. After I came up with the Stone Cold thing, the star thing happened. When you combine the great mechanic and this big star, then you have box office records, sell-outs, Pay-per-view records and all the other bullshit that we did. I'm still learning about this. You feed off the crowd, that energy and that noise when you're in the ring. On a set, you don't feed off that. I'm still learning to try to figure out what to feed off of on set. I always think that whatever you do, with repetition you get better. The more I do this, the better I'm going to get at it. I believe in myself, and I believe I have a talent. I don't think I've scratched the surface yet. I don't think I've done enough yet, but I'm damn sure going to learn. By the time I finish doing this gig, I'm going to be a good actor because that's what I set my goals on being.

Action movies like this can be really inspirational. That's important.Anytime you can draw inspiration from something that's positive, then it is important. I've had so many people come up to me in my life and say, "You know what? I grew up watching you, and you helped me get through so many things." People would often ask me if I thought of myself as a role model while I was wrestling. I'd say, "If you look at what I do, as far as my product in the ring, that's not a guy you want your kids to grow up to be. However, when you look at the effort in my body of work and what it took for me to get there, I definitely think I'm a positive role model." That being said, so many people lived vicariously through the actions of Stone Cold, and the system's always against them. I was bucking the system. My actions, words and matches gave them a vehicle to succeed with. I think it's important to have great role models whether it's an action hero or whatever. We all need heroes.

That work ethic translates more than anything.Yeah, man, I've got the work ethic. I'm still working on it, and I'm going to figure it out. That is my goal in my life. When I finished professional wrestling, I needed to get out because of injuries. I didn't know what I was going to do, and I didn't do anything for several years. I said, "Okay, I'm going to get into acting because I enjoyed doing Nash Bridges when I did." At first, I just got into it so I could do something. It was about being busy. Now, it's a passion because I'm hooked on it. I see the inner-workings and what it takes to be a great performer. When I'm passionate about something, I put everything that I have into it. That's what I'm doing now.